TRS-80 Model I
The Tandy Radioshack TRS-80 Model I is a desktop computer launched in 1977 by Tandy and sold through their Radio Shack stores. It is one of the earliest mass-marketed retail computers of the time.
THe computer runs on a Zilog Z80 CPU, has 4Kbyte of memory and floating point Level 1 Basic interpreter in ROM. The video output is 64x16 characters monochrome. Memory could be expanded up to 48 KByte and up to four floppy disk drives and/or hard drives could be added.
As was common with a lot of computers of the time, the monitor had a visible flicker when the CPU would access the screen memory. Programmers worked around this issue and many arcade-style games are available for the TRS-80 platform.
The model I has no built in speaker but square wave tones can be produced by outputting data to the cassette port and plugging an amplifier into the cassette "Mic" line. A lot of games used this ability for sound effects. Atari joysticks could be used on the TRS-80 using an adapter.
The 1977 Trinity of Computing
The year 1977 was a defining year for the home computer market. The three main computer systems that were introduced that year are now considered part of the 1977 Trinity of computing:
CPU View - Zilog Z80 Family
The Z80 quickly became popular in the personal computer market, with many early personal computers, such as the TRS-80 and Sinclair ZX80, using the Z80 as their central processing unit (CPU). It was also widely used in home computers, such as the MSX range, SORD, and the Amstrad CPC, as well as in many arcade games. Additionally, it was also used in other applications such as industrial control systems, and embedded systems. The Z80 was widely used until the mid-1980s, when it was gradually replaced by newer microprocessors such as the Intel 80286 and the Motorola 68000.
The Z80 microprocessor was developed by Zilog, a company founded by Federico Faggin in 1974. The Z80 was released in July 1976, as a successor to the Intel 8080. It was designed to be fully compatible with the 8080, but also included new features such as an improved instruction set, more powerful interrupts, and a more sophisticated memory management system.
The Z80 quickly became popular in the personal computer
RAM max: 48kB Sound Chip none Sound Sound output through cassette Display Chip none Display 32x16 & 64x16 text mode Best Text 64x16 Best Color monochrome Graphics Text Only Sprites none System OS TRS-DOS Storage External Floppy Disk Drives Original Price $399